The ocean's capacity to take up the carbon humans put in the atmosphere is waning, according to a new study reported in the journal Nature Geoscience.Previous studies, with often contradictory results, show that the amount of atmospheric carbon absorbed by the oceans varies from year to year.Continue Reading>>
Sea ice in the Arctic is melting at a record pace this year,suggesting warming at the north pole is speeding up and a largely ice-free Arctic can be expected in summer months within 30 years.The area of the Arctic ocean at least 15% covered in ice is this week about 8.5m sq kilometres - lower than the previous record low set in 2007 - according to satellite monitoring by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado. In addition, new data from the University of Washington Polar Science Centre, shows that the thickness of Arctic ice this year is also the lowest on record.
With its dark red and black stripes, spotted fins and long venomous black spikes, the lionfish seems better suited for horror films than consumption. But lionfish fritters and filets may be on American tables soon.An invasive species, the lionfish is devastating reef fish populations along the Florida coast and into the Caribbean. Now, an increasing number of environmentalists, consumer groups and scientists are seriously testing a novel solution to control it and other aquatic invasive species - one that would also takes pressure off depleted ocean fish stocks: they want Americans to step up to their plates and start eating invasive critters in large numbers.
The White House's proposed National Ocean Policy earned a vote ofconfidence from former U.S. EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus and a blue-ribbon panel of marine experts yesterday, just days before administration officials embark on a nationwide tour to discuss a series of draft action plans aimed at implementing the year-old initiative. Continue Reading>>
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Scientists have found eight potentially new species of reef fish and a potentially new species of bubble coral in waters surrounding the Indonesian island of Bali, according to Conservation International. The fish and coral were found by a team of 10 scientists during a two-week marine survey that ended Wednesday, said Mark Erdmann, senior adviser for CI's marine program. Erdmann is he is 99.9% sure the fish are newly discovered species. With Bali being a well-traveled tourism destination with lots of diving, the new find "tells us there's still a bit of mystery there." "We find that intriguing, knowing that there's things there that we don't even know about," Erdmann said in a phone interview Sunday night.
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed legislation that prohibits the sale, trade or distribution of shark fins or derivative products in the state of Washington. Supporters including the Humane Society of the United States say Senate Bill 5688 reduces pressure on sharply declining populations of sharks. The group says more than 73 million sharks are killed each year mainly for their fins. The practice of finning involves slicing off the fins of a shark while it is still alive and discarding the severely wounded animal at sea. State Senator Kevin Ranker of San Juan Island was the bill's primary sponsor. The measure unanimously passed the Senate. The House voted 95 to 1 in favor of it. Hawaii and Guam have passed similar measures. Proposed measures are being considered in Oregon and California.
There's still oil out there. The 86-day Deepwater Horizon gusher sentnearly 200 million gallons of oil, tens of millions of gallons of natural gas and 1.8 million gallons of poorly studied chemical dispersants into the northern Gulf of Mexico. And the fate of much of it remains murky. "There's still an awful lot of oil unaccounted for in the environment," said Ian R. McDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University who has worked extensively in the gulf. A massive environmental-crime investigation spearheaded by federal and gulf state officials is underway to tally the harm and has logged tens ofthousands of samples from the gulf's waters, seafloor, marshlands,beaches and wildlife.
A new study suggests that more than 40 fish species in the Mediterranean could vanish in the next few years.The study released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature says almost half of the species of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean and at least 12 species of bony fish are threatened with extinction due to overfishing, pollution and the loss of habitat.Commercial catches of bluefin tuna, sea bass, hake and dusky grouper are particularly threatened, said the study by the Swiss-based IUCN, an environmental network of 1,000 groups in 160 nations.
The Bahamas National Trust (BNT), with cooperation from the PewCharitable Trusts, is beginning a campaign to have a shark sanctuary established in the Bahamas. This would be the first of its kind in the Atlantic Ocean, and that could start the ball rolling much like what is occurring in the Pacific with the Palau Shark Sanctuary and the shark fishing regulations or prohibitions that have sprung up in several Pacific island nations.
The carbon dioxide we pump into the air is seeping into the oceans and slowly acidifying them. One hundred years from now, will oysters, mussels, and coral reefs survive?
Castello Aragonese is a tiny island that rises straight out of the Tyrrhenian Sea like a tower. Seventeen miles west of Naples, it can be reached from the somewhat larger island of Ischia via a long, narrow stone bridge. The tourists who visit Castello Aragonese come to see what life was like in the past. They climb-or better yet, take the elevator-up to a massive castle, which houses a display of medieval torture instruments. The scientists who visit the island, by contrast, come to see what life will be like in the future.
New study warns on coral reef diversity - CNN, April 6, 2011
The world's most diverse coral reef regions may be under greater threat from human populations than previously thought, according to a new global scientific field study.
Researchers reporting in the journal PlosBiology say that the diverse reef fish systems are the most impaired by human populations -- which runs counter to previous experimental findings which have suggested that these areas were best equipped to deal with biodiversity loss.
"Before, we thought diversity was an insurance against human stressors but it is actually a weakness," said Camilo Mora from Canada's Dalhousie University, and lead author of the study.
Pirates, seven-metre waves and at least a few days of sea-sickness - and those are just the "standard" perils Roz Savage expects to encounter when she starts a 6500-kilometre solo rowing expedition from Fremantle on Friday.
The 42-year-old British environmental activist became the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean when she completed a journey of almost 13,000 kilometres from the US to Australia throughout 2008 and 2009.
King crabs invade Antarctica - Washington Post, March 20, 2011
Sven Thatje has been predicting an invasion of deep-water crabs into shallow Antarctic waters for the past several years. But the biologist and his colleagues got their first look at the march of the seafloor predators while riding on an icebreaker across frozen Antarctic seas this winter. The ship towed a robot sub carrying a small digital camera that filmed the seafloor below. It caught images of bright red king crabs up to 10 inches long, moving into an undersea habitat of creatures that haven't seen sharp teeth or claws for the past 40 million years.
Ocean garbage: Floating landmines - The Vancouver Sun, March 19, 2011
A new B.C. study found 36,000 pieces of debris along our coastline. Experts say it's just the 'tip of the iceberg' of a problem that's growing alongside our demand for disposable goodsNo matter where you travel on the B.C. coast, no matter how remote or seemingly untrammelled and pristine the fiord or inlet, a piece of plastic, Styrofoam or other garbage has been there before you. God knows how it got there: Dumped recklessly off a vessel, swept down a river or through a storm drain, blown by the wind off the land, or brought in by the ocean currents flowing across the vast North Pacific - including debris from the Japanese tsunami, which could start arriving on our coast in two years.
Short Shark Supply: Great White Population Low, Census Finds - Livescience.com, March 9, 2011
Far fewer great white sharks are cruising the waters off of California than previously thought, according to researchers who conducted a unique shark census in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. "This low number was a real surprise," said Taylor Chapple, a doctoral student at the University of California, Davis when he led the great white shark study. "It's lower than we expected, and also substantially smaller than populations of other large marine predators, such as killer whales and polar bears," said Chapple, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Germany.
Deal reached to manage fishing in Northeast Pacific - Reuters, March 7, 2011
Countries bordering the North Pacific Ocean have struck a deal that environmentalists said on Monday will help protect 16.1 million square miles (41.7 million sq km) of ocean floor from a destructive technique called bottom trawl fishing. The agreement calls for the creation of an organization to manage sea bottom fisheries in the North Pacific, and puts an immediate cap on expansion of bottom trawl fishing in international waters stretching from Hawaii to Alaska.
Turtles now world's most threatened vertebrates - The Independent, Feb. 28, 2011
Turtles and tortoises are now the most endangered group of vertebrate animals, with more than half of their 328 species threatened with extinction, according to a new report. Their populations are being depleted by unsustainable hunting, both for food and for use in traditional Chinese medicine, by large-scale collection for the pet trade, and by the widespread pollution and destruction of their habitats, according to the study Turtles In Trouble, produced by a coalition of turtle conservation groups.
Arctic Sea Ice Extent in January is Lowest in Recorded History - ENN, Feb. 27, 2011
While extreme weather conditions and unusually cold temperatures have gripped much of North America and Europe this winter, unusually warm temperatures farther north produced the lowest Arctic sea ice extent ever recorded for the month of January, according to NASA. Areas such as Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, and Davis Strait - which typically freeze over by late November - did not completely freeze until mid-January, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). And the Labrador Sea was also unusually ice-free. In this NASA graphic (left), based on satellite data, blue indicates open water, white illustrates high sea ice concentrations, and turquoise indicates loosely packed ice.
World's Coral Reefs Facing Serious Threats - NPR News, Feb. 23, 2011
A major new survey of the world's coral reefs finds that they are in trouble. Big trouble. Overfishing and local pollution continue to grow as threats, and the reefs' long-term existence is in doubt because the world's oceans are gradually getting warmer and more acidic because of human activity. There's a lot at stake: Coral reefs are spectacular ecosystems, overflowing with diverse and colorful marine life. They're also the source of food and economic sustenance to half a billion people around the world. "Currently, we find 75 percent of the world's reefs are threatened by a combination of local and global threats," says Lauretta Burke, a senior author of the new report. "By 2030, the percentage will rise to 90 percent. By 2050, virtually all reefs will be threatened," she says.
Save Sharks, Save Oceans - Sea Notes Monterey Bay Aquarium, Feb 14. 2011
Around the world, two sharks die every second -- up to 70 million a year. That's the estimate from scientists on the number of sharks being removed from our oceans, mostly just for their fins. It's a staggering number, whichever way you slice it. Fortunately the tide is turning and many nations and governments, including the U.S., (thanks to you!) have restricted or banned finning in their waters. Efforts now must turn to trade and distribution. You can't legally catch and cut the fins off a shark in U.S. waters, but it is legal to own, sell or distribute the fins!
States can close this loophole; by banning the sale of shark fins, they can eliminate the market -- and go a long way toward protecting them in the wild. Now California has a chance to take action - in a big way.
Pacific Herring Are Back in the Bay in Big Numbers, Three Years After a Major Oil Spill - NY Times Feb. 12, 2011
The herring that have recently flooded into San Francisco Bay in dense schools have surprised fishermen and ecologists, who doubted that the generation of the silvery fish that was spawned during a devastating oil spill three years ago would survive. The population of Pacific herring that lives in the ocean and returns during winter to breed in the bay has rebounded strongly from recent historic lows, providing relief for local fishermen and hungry wildlife.
Conservationists push action on protected turtles - Reuters, Feb. 5, 2011
Conservation groups served notice on Friday that they would file suit accusing the federal government of failing to protect leatherback sea turtles along the U.S. West Coast as required under the Endangered Species Act. The three groups said the National Marine Fisheries Service, a U.S. Commerce Department agency, missed a January 5 deadline for designating Pacific habitat critical to the survival of leatherbacks, listed as an endangered species since 1970. The notice of intent gives the agency 60 days to resolve the situation before a lawsuit is filed in federal court. Leatherbacks, which can grow to more than 6 feet in length and weigh nearly 200 pounds, are believed to number in the thousands throughout the entire Pacific, with the biggest human threats to them posed by commercial fishing operations.
The Arctic Ocean needs tough new shipping rules as a rapid thaw opens the remote, icy region and brings risks of disasters on the scale of the Titanic, politicians and experts said on Monday.
"We need to agree on a new binding polar code" for shipping, Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told Reuters during a conference on "Arctic Frontiers" in Tromsoe, a city north of the Arctic Circle in Norway.
Building the need for shark conservation, one piece of legislation at a time, there are two important shark fin bills - one for Guam and the other for the Northern Mariana Islands - that are coming to a head and could use the support of those who feel that the rapid depletion of the worldwide shark populations due to industrial shark fishing must come to an end. Both of these bills have strong supporters within the island governments but there is also strong resistance from fishing interests and lobbying from shark product distributors.
Oil giant plans new platform near feeding ground of critically endangered whale - World Wildlife Fund, Jan. 17, 2011
Sakhalin Energy Investment Company - part owned by Shell - has announced plans to build a major oil platform near crucial feeding habitat of the Western North Pacific gray whale population.
Only around 130 whales of the critically endangered Western population exist today, and their primary feeding habitat - off Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East - is already besieged by multiple oil and gas exploration and development projects. Continue Reading>>
In Ventura, a retreat in the face of a rising sea - LA Times, Jan. 16, 2011
Higher ocean levels force Ventura officials to move facilities inland, an action that is expected to recur along the coast as the ocean rises over the next century.
At Surfers Point in Ventura, California is beginning its retreat from the ocean. Construction crews are removing a crumbling bike path, ripping out a 120-space parking lot and laying down sand and cobblestones. By pushing the asphalt 65 feet inland, the project is expected to give the wave-ravaged point 50 more years of life. Continue Reading>>
Leatherback turtles tracked on Atlantic 'danger' trips - BBC, Jan. 5, 2011
Scientists have for the first time tracked leatherback turtles from the world's largest nesting site, in Gabon, as they traverse the South Atlantic.
Data from tags on their backs show they swim thousands of kilometers each year. These journeys take them through areas where they are at high risk of being caught accidentally by fishing boats. The leatherback is the world's biggest turtle and listed as Critically Endangered, largely because of poaching for eggs and snaring in fishing gear. Continue Reading>>
Solo yacht racer delivers environmental plea - Stuff.co.nz, Jan. 3, 2011
Solo round the world yachtie Brad Van Liew has made an impassioned New Year's resolution from the dangerous seas of the Southern Ocean.Van Liew continues to set the pace in the Cape Town to Wellington leg of the Velux 5 Oceans Race.
And he has vowed to fight for the preservation of the seas he is battling, and the conservation of its lessening marine life, after being stunned at changes he has witnessed in the region since last racing in the Southern Ocean during the 2006 Velux 5 Oceans Race. Continue Reading>>
America's biggest oil leak exposed a glaring need to proactively protect and monitor coastlines, researchers say
In the 24-hour news cycle era, the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico already feels like an event from yesteryear, an event that had its 15 minutes of news domination during the summer of 2010 then made room for the next big story once the wellhead was capped.
But though gulf residents fear that they will be forgotten as cleanup crews pack up and leave, the inquiry into the oil leak is only beginning on scientific fronts. As the federal government continues to review its initial response to the disaster, research institutions are seeking portions of a $500 million reserve that BP has pledged to studying the long-term effects of the leak. Continue Reading>>
Congress passes shark protection bill - The Washington Post, Dec. 21, 2010
Lawmakers have passed a landmark shark conservation bill, closing loopholes that had allowed the lucrative shark fin trade to continue thriving off the West Coast. The measure - which the Senate passed Monday and the House passed Tuesday morning - requires any vessel to land sharks with their fins attached, and prevents non-fishing vessels from transporting fins without their carcasses. The practice of shark finning, which is now banned off the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico but not the Pacific, has expanded worldwide due to rising demand for shark's fin soup in Asia. Continue Reading>>
Increasing acidity in the sea's waters may fundamentally change how nitrogen is cycled in them, say marine scientists who published their findings in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients in the oceans. All organisms, from tiny microbes to blue whales, use nitrogen to make proteins and other important compounds. Continue Reading>>
Puerto Morelos, Mexico - The once-vibrant coral reef shielding these sun-soaked beaches from the wrath of the sea is withering away under the stress of pollution and warmer water.
It's not likely to get much help from world governments, which met in Cancun last week for talks on a new climate pact. Their so-far elusive goal to limit global warming to 3.6 degrees Farenheit is too little too late, said coral expert Roberto Iglesias. Continue Reading>>
Launched by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the $650 million project will be completed in 2010, by which time who knows what new discoveries will be made? The oceans have given us bioluminescent beings and ecosystems that thrive off of hydrothermal vents, rather than oxygen created by photosynthesizing plants. One expedition in the Census has already had the opportunity to explore the floor beneath the Larsen Ice Shelf - something never before possible - only to find hundreds of organisms like herds of sea cucumbers crawling across the seafloor. How they thrive in this harsh, aquatic climate, is unknown, but the watery depths certainly have much more to teach us about our own planet if we can keep them intact and healthy long enough to learn. Read More >>